Ep.60 US Liberalism & Islamic Exceptionalism with Dr Shadi Hamid
Also see the Insights page with more on Shadi Hamid’s background and links to his works
As you all know, this podcast is no stranger to dissecting the narrative forwarded by liberals in general and those within our community that self-identify as Muslim liberals. And if you know me you would know that I don’t particularly find the modernist narrative appealing nor elegant in their appeals to what I and I think most Muslims see as the ideas of an incoherent worldview that has undermined human societies the world over.
With these caveats in mind, this episode we dedicate to a discussion with an American Muslim liberal, Dr Shadi Hamid. I have followed his work for some years and although we part company on a number of issues, as you will hear, I do feel Shadi is a reluctant liberal, open to criticise not only those inconsistencies he witnesses but also he attempts to make sense of American foreign policy in light of his values and I am not sure he is always successful in reaching a satisfactory answer.
I found our discussion fascinating, not least because I wanted to understand how he views American liberalism, the trends towards nativism, exemplified in the near re-election of Donald Trump last year but also how he reconciles his liberal worldview with his Islamic faith, which I know he thinks a lot about. This interview was conducted earlier this year, just after the last Israeli bombardment of Gaza so I also asked him about how he navigates the pro-Israeli consensus in America.
Shadi has written a number of books on the Muslim world, this is where he made his name in American political and academic circles, so we spend time talking about the attitudes of Muslims in the Muslim world towards Islam as well as the often-simplistic way US policy treats the Middle East and Islamic parties.
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